From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia British general election, 1784
British general election, 1784
Great Britain general election, 1784
1780 ← 30 March to 10 May → 1790
All 558 seats of the House of Commons
280 seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party
Leader William Pitt Charles James Fox
Party Tory Whig
Leader’s seat Cambridge Westminster
University
Seats won 280 155
Popular vote - -
Scarlet represents Government supporters (Pittites); buff
Percentage - - Opposition supporters (Foxites and Northites).
PM before election Subsequent PM
William Pitt William Pitt
Tory Tory
1780 election
1784 election
1790 election
The British general election of 1784 resulted in William
Pitt the Younger securing an overall majority of about
120 in the House of Commons of Great Britain, having
previously had to survive in a House which was dominat-
ed by his opponents.
Background
In December 1783, George III engineered the dismissal of
the Fox-North Coalition, which he hated, and appointed
William Pitt the Younger as Prime Minister. Pitt had very
little personal support in the House of Commons and the
supporters of Charles James Fox and Lord North felt that
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia British general election, 1784
the constitution of the country had been violated. The ers of the coalition. The government achieved an overall
doctrine that the government must always have a major- majority on 15 April.
ity in Parliament was not yet fully established and Fox The election ended on 10 May.
knew he had to be careful.
On 2 February 1784 Fox carried a motion declaring
"That it is the Opinion of this House, That the Continu-
Notable contests
ance of the present Ministers in their Offices is an Obsta- The contests involving both Pitt and Fox attracted par-
cle to the Formation of such an Administration as may ticular attention. Pitt had long wished to be a Member
enjoy the Confidence of this House, and tend to put an of Parliament for the University of Cambridge and had
End to the unfortunate Divisions and Distractions of the failed to be elected when he stood for the seat in the 1780
Country" by 223 to 204. Pitt remained in office, and gov- general election. Now he was returned at the top of the
ernment supporters ensured petitions and resolutions of poll and would hold the seat for the rest of his life.
borough corporations were presented to Parliament to Fox was one of the two sitting members for the con-
encourage members to back Pitt, and slowly MPs con- stituency of Westminster, which had the largest elec-
verted. torate of any in the country and a great deal of prestige.
By 1 March, Fox’s motion which concluded by "be- His position there was central to his claim to be repre-
seech[ing] His Majesty, that He would be graciously senting the people. He stood against two Pitt supporters
pleased to lay the Foundation of a strong and stable for the constituency’s two seats; both sides spent heavi-
Government, by the previous Removal of His present ly, campaigned bitterly, allegedly libelled and slandered
Ministers" was carried but only by 201 to 189. A week lat- their opponents relentlessly and resorted to all kinds of
er, a more strongly worded motion threatening the with- tactics, including Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire tour-
holding of supply was also passed – but only by 191 to ing the streets and, according to the opposition, kissing
190. Fox thereafter declined to push motions, as his base many voters to induce them to vote for Fox. Even George,
continued to crumble. Pitt meanwhile decided to go to Prince of Wales campaigned for Fox.
the country and on 24 March, Parliament was prorogued At the conclusion of polling on 17 May, Fox had nar-
and on the following day the Parliament first elected in rowly succeeded with 6,233 votes to Sir Cecil Wray’s
1780 was dissolved. 5,998. However Pitt’s supporters then demanded a scruti-
ny of the votes and the Returning Officer therefore did
not make the return. A scrutiny in a constituency as large
Course of the election as Westminster was an enormously time-consuming
The election was fought very much as a national cam- process; Fox, suspecting this may happen, had already
paign around the questions of the fall of the Fox-North arranged for his return for the Northern District of
government and whether or not Pitt should continue in Burghs on (26 April) so that he would not be out of the
office, rather than a series of local campaigns, which was House during it. The scrutiny did not show specially large
more common for 18th century British elections. numbers of illegal voters and eventually began to look
Thanks to a combination of patronage and bribes paid like a political tactic; on 4 March 1785 the House of Com-
by the HM Treasury, many small pocket boroughs re- mons finally put an end to it by ordering the Returning
turned Pitt-supporting MPs as widely expected. Addi- Officer to declare the result.
tionally, in the constituencies decided by large elec- A London Constable Nicholas Casson was killed dur-
torates there was massive support for candidates who ing the election.
backed Pitt. Many of Fox’s supporters were forced to ei-
ther withdraw or make deals with their opponents to
avoid election defeat. In the county constituencies only
See also
one Fox supporter was elected in a contest, though oth- • List of Parliaments of Great Britain
ers returned due to local electoral pacts. Those MPs who • MPs elected in the British general election, 1784
had remained in opposition, refusing to go over to sup-
port Pitt, and who failed to return to the House of Com-
mons as a consequence became known as "Fox’s Martyrs"
References
in reference to John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (although the • British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by
majority were supporters of North). Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate
The first day’s polling, 30 March, saw 13 government Publishing Ltd 2000). (For dates of elections before
supporters and four opponents returned. By the conclu- 1832, see the footnote to Table 5.02).
sion of the fifth day (3 April), there were already more
than 150 government MPs and a lead of 50 over support-
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia British general election, 1784
Categories:
• Elections to the Parliament of Great Britain
• 1784 elections
• 1784 in Great Britain
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